Paul Heitzman

Age Group Ace

At 5-foot-9 and 159 pounds, Paul Heitzman has a barrel chest and thick, muscular legs, not quite the elite distance runner stereotype. But, at last count, the 75-year-old retired high school history teacher had won 52 national championships on the track and roads in four age groups over the past 16 years. "I’m definitely not a natural, but I make up for it in effort," says Heitzman. "I can easily count 12 races in which I have collapsed — once from heat, once from dehydration, three times by hamstring knots, and about eight times from too much lactic acid while trying to run beyond my body’s capacity."

The last three national championships were recorded on the indoor track at Boston during March as he won the 800 (2:53.05), the mile (6:23.95) and the 3,000 (12:52.22). The latter two times were American indoor records for the 75-79 division. On his 75th birthday during February, he broke the Oklahoma state 5K road record with a 22:24 and then followed that with a Kansas state record of 22:31. In spite of his recent successes, Heitzman laments his situation. "My wins seem to reflect only that I have outlived my competition," he says, laughing. "I’m usually the only one in my age group. I really miss the competition."

Until he was 59, Heitzman didn’t have any kind of exercise routine beyond hard work. In addition to his teaching position, he worked a construction job during the summer months, maintained a farm, and had a part-time job broadcasting high school football and basketball games. "There just wasn’t enough time for anything else," he explains, "but the construction job was getting difficult at that age and so I quit. I thought I’d better do something else to keep in shape." He took up running, and, after retiring the next year, started training regularly, and was soon winning races in the 60-64 division.

Most of his best times came in the 65-69 division. His fondest memories are of winning the 3,000 on the track in Eugene with a 10:49.81 at age 67, and running 59:59 in the Tulsa Run 15K the following year. He adds that he didn’t begin to think of himself as a real long-distance runner until winning his division in a half marathon in 1997 while recording 1:26:29. Heitzman estimates he puts in 20-25 miles a week now, about half of what he was doing five years ago. "I just don’t have the energy I used to have," he says, mentioning that he still has many farm duties while raising feeder cattle and growing strawberries. "I try to run in the morning now, because I’m too tired at the end of the day."

Even though his race times are slower these days, Heitzman is still motivated to train, race and chase records. "My short-term goals are the Oklahoma single age records and to do well in the nationals," he says. "When you are my age, you don’t think much about long-term goals. I’m like the guy who said the first thing he did in the morning was get the paper and read the obituary column. If he didn’t see his name, he said it was a good day." —Mike Tymn